Books for children and the rest of us, too

I recently mentioned a challenge to Alice Sebold's novel The Lovely Bones. A parent wanted it off the shelves at a Westport, CT, middle-school library. According to the Westport News, "[Westport] Superintendent of Schools Elliot Landon has denied a request to remove" The Lovely Bones from the middle-school library "following a report by a committee appointed to review the book."

The Westport News article, which is not online, also says that while Landon acknowledged that the book was for mature readers, he cited the book's inclusion on the American Library Association's 2003 list for young adults aged 12 and older and The Lovely Bones' appearance on several Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC)/Young Adult Library Services (YALSA) lists. (ALSC and YALSA are divisions of the American Library Association.)

The parent who objected to the book was not available for comment, according to the newspaper.